Why was the video engaging?
The brand was instantly recognisable through the Hobbit allusions and references, including costumes, characters, accents, props, sound effects and music. These were amusing and entertaining, and the audience could immediately relate and were drawn into the world of Middle Earth.
Prensky's 12 elements
I agree - fun and learning absolutely go together. Once you can engage and motivate students to want to succeed, learning will come - they will rise to the challenge. Gender differentiation is perhaps an interesting area for consideration. But clearly a well designed game can engage male or female players.
Level 2 - Gamification
What engages your students?
I have found students are more involved and engaged when they get to make some choices about learning activities, or use subject matter that they can relate to and are interested in. They like to have some independence and control.
Zombie Geography
What a great idea. Having a modern narrative that draws on the students' interests, as a way to explore (boring) geographical concepts, is certainly a fun and engaging way for them to learn and be motivated.
Where to start?
Gamification is more about the design of the learning experience rather than the use of technology. This definition reassures me somewhat! I can design game-based classroom experiences that work using my content and relevant to my students, and that use technology I already have a handle on.
Learning outcomes that could benefit from Gamification
In English this could be effectively used in Stage 4 outcomes EN4-1A, EN42A, EN43B and EN46C. I used outcome EN4-3B to help students describe language forms and features through a trivia game with a host and 3 contestants. Using game elements made the activity fun and students were all very engaged and motivated to succeed. There was a clear structure with constraints (eg. the questions had to be about language forms and features) - the first of the contestants to 'buzz' got to attempt to answer the question, a wrong answer meant a point was lost, a correct answer earned 1 point on the 'leader board. The competition to achieve 3 points and become a 'class master of language forms and features' motivated students to succeed and reach the 'win state', and to receive the reward of a freddo frog. Just using games terminology had a positive effect on student engagement and desire to succeed in their learning. Students who 'lost' the game were given the opportunity to play again (once they had consulted their revision notes.)
Level 3
Premier's Reading Challenge - intensity of Gamification used. While the narrative, progression, emotion and relationship game elements are low intensity, the game mechanics make some good use of games elements through the challenge, reward (certificates) and win state (achievable goals and clear end point) and different levels of achievement such as Gold or Platinum certificate and the possibility of being included on the Honour Roll.) This motivates students to achieve the end goal of completing books.
KWL reflection:
Know - I knew only that kids love games and they are often effective in the classroom for engaging student interest. I didn't know much about the research behind GBL or the specifics of different elements and success stories.
Want - I wanted to gain some information and ideas about ways to apply gamification to my English course content, and rethink ways to get students to achieve outcomes whilst having fun. I wanted to know if I needed to learn to use particular software.
Learn - I learnt that the concept of GBL was really based on the design of the experience, and that my current IT skills would still allow me to use GBL effectively. I learnt about the different elements and got some great ideas about how these could be applied to the curriculum. I gained some valuable resources which I will keep on hand to refer back to when designing units of work. I gained motivation to apply what I have learned to my classroom, based on the success stories included in the course. We are very happy to see that you have learned that you can start with the skills you already have and then build up to more complex GBL experiences.
Final reflection (Design)
Future Worlds unit for Year 8 English class (outcomes EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-4B, EN4-5C, EN4-6C) based on a close study of 'The Divergent' (novel) and 'The Hunger Games' (movie). This is a unit of work I have taught previously but I would like to give it a new lease of life through the introduction of games elements, using PowerPoint. It will be an 8 week unit including solo and group quests and tasks, with both teacher and peer feedback provided throughout, and points provided for progressing to the next level. Similar to the Dendai English site, students will be given the opportunity to reach an A level, but must at least achieve a C score (or else repeat some levels again to have another opportunity to succeed.) The narrative/theme is that the student is an author on a quest to produce a futuristic narrative that highlights a contemporary issue in society, intended for a Year 8 audience readership (all of the images in slides will reflect dystopian theme). They must navigate through various solo and group quests and tasks in order to progress to the final task: the creative writing task. Each quest will build on the skills achieved in the last, starting with group mind mapping (societal issues), independent research (dystopian theme) and quizzes around the futuristic genre and the way the theme has been conveyed in various text samples (including picture books, non-fiction texts and websites), some which will be provided, and others which students will need to find themselves & present to / analyse in groups. Students will have the opportunity to choose from some of the texts provided for specific tasks. Bonus points will be received by students who complete 'extension quests' in addition to the compulsory tasks (such as finding and reflecting on additional texts). Class time will be devoted to the viewing of the 'Hunger Games' film and some time to the reading of 'The Divergent', with specific tasks in the game that can only be unlocked at the completion of certain chapters and scenes. These will assess literal and inferential understanding, as well as the connections between texts, such as the techniques used to highlight the dystopian theme. The final task will be a self-assessment based on their own futuristic text. On successful completion students will receive a congratulatory letter from the publishing company, agreeing to publish their narrative and pay them for their efforts (perhaps a freddo frog...!)
My thoughts are that although the unit in its entirety will not be completed digitally, the 'games elements' throughout will still serve to engage students and keep them motivated. A template on their google drive will allow them to tick off quests they have completed, and give myself and their peers a place to write a comment and/or score for different tasks completed. These are just my initial thoughts and I imagine the unit will be tweaked and refined as I am teaching it. This is a good start. You mention some good 'ingredients' such as quests and rewards, however, haven't really described the game elements you might use in as much detail as you might need to give the students a really good first experience with your new found knowledge. You might be interested in the part 2 of this course Next steps in games for learning: Design, Protoype, Play where there is a great example of a GBL experience for secondary English using the Hunger Games as theme for writing.
Badges & Rewards
Why was the video engaging?
The brand was instantly recognisable through the Hobbit allusions and references, including costumes, characters, accents, props, sound effects and music. These were amusing and entertaining, and the audience could immediately relate and were drawn into the world of Middle Earth.
Prensky's 12 elements
I agree - fun and learning absolutely go together. Once you can engage and motivate students to want to succeed, learning will come - they will rise to the challenge. Gender differentiation is perhaps an interesting area for consideration. But clearly a well designed game can engage male or female players.
Level 2 - Gamification
What engages your students?
I have found students are more involved and engaged when they get to make some choices about learning activities, or use subject matter that they can relate to and are interested in. They like to have some independence and control.
Zombie Geography
What a great idea. Having a modern narrative that draws on the students' interests, as a way to explore (boring) geographical concepts, is certainly a fun and engaging way for them to learn and be motivated.
Where to start?
Gamification is more about the design of the learning experience rather than the use of technology. This definition reassures me somewhat! I can design game-based classroom experiences that work using my content and relevant to my students, and that use technology I already have a handle on.
Learning outcomes that could benefit from Gamification
In English this could be effectively used in Stage 4 outcomes EN4-1A, EN42A, EN43B and EN46C. I used outcome EN4-3B to help students describe language forms and features through a trivia game with a host and 3 contestants. Using game elements made the activity fun and students were all very engaged and motivated to succeed. There was a clear structure with constraints (eg. the questions had to be about language forms and features) - the first of the contestants to 'buzz' got to attempt to answer the question, a wrong answer meant a point was lost, a correct answer earned 1 point on the 'leader board. The competition to achieve 3 points and become a 'class master of language forms and features' motivated students to succeed and reach the 'win state', and to receive the reward of a freddo frog. Just using games terminology had a positive effect on student engagement and desire to succeed in their learning. Students who 'lost' the game were given the opportunity to play again (once they had consulted their revision notes.)
Level 3
Premier's Reading Challenge - intensity of Gamification used. While the narrative, progression, emotion and relationship game elements are low intensity, the game mechanics make some good use of games elements through the challenge, reward (certificates) and win state (achievable goals and clear end point) and different levels of achievement such as Gold or Platinum certificate and the possibility of being included on the Honour Roll.) This motivates students to achieve the end goal of completing books.
KWL reflection:
Know - I knew only that kids love games and they are often effective in the classroom for engaging student interest. I didn't know much about the research behind GBL or the specifics of different elements and success stories.
Want - I wanted to gain some information and ideas about ways to apply gamification to my English course content, and rethink ways to get students to achieve outcomes whilst having fun. I wanted to know if I needed to learn to use particular software.
Learn - I learnt that the concept of GBL was really based on the design of the experience, and that my current IT skills would still allow me to use GBL effectively. I learnt about the different elements and got some great ideas about how these could be applied to the curriculum. I gained some valuable resources which I will keep on hand to refer back to when designing units of work. I gained motivation to apply what I have learned to my classroom, based on the success stories included in the course. We are very happy to see that you have learned that you can start with the skills you already have and then build up to more complex GBL experiences.
Final reflection (Design)
Future Worlds unit for Year 8 English class (outcomes EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-4B, EN4-5C, EN4-6C) based on a close study of 'The Divergent' (novel) and 'The Hunger Games' (movie). This is a unit of work I have taught previously but I would like to give it a new lease of life through the introduction of games elements, using PowerPoint. It will be an 8 week unit including solo and group quests and tasks, with both teacher and peer feedback provided throughout, and points provided for progressing to the next level. Similar to the Dendai English site, students will be given the opportunity to reach an A level, but must at least achieve a C score (or else repeat some levels again to have another opportunity to succeed.) The narrative/theme is that the student is an author on a quest to produce a futuristic narrative that highlights a contemporary issue in society, intended for a Year 8 audience readership (all of the images in slides will reflect dystopian theme). They must navigate through various solo and group quests and tasks in order to progress to the final task: the creative writing task. Each quest will build on the skills achieved in the last, starting with group mind mapping (societal issues), independent research (dystopian theme) and quizzes around the futuristic genre and the way the theme has been conveyed in various text samples (including picture books, non-fiction texts and websites), some which will be provided, and others which students will need to find themselves & present to / analyse in groups. Students will have the opportunity to choose from some of the texts provided for specific tasks. Bonus points will be received by students who complete 'extension quests' in addition to the compulsory tasks (such as finding and reflecting on additional texts). Class time will be devoted to the viewing of the 'Hunger Games' film and some time to the reading of 'The Divergent', with specific tasks in the game that can only be unlocked at the completion of certain chapters and scenes. These will assess literal and inferential understanding, as well as the connections between texts, such as the techniques used to highlight the dystopian theme. The final task will be a self-assessment based on their own futuristic text. On successful completion students will receive a congratulatory letter from the publishing company, agreeing to publish their narrative and pay them for their efforts (perhaps a freddo frog...!)
My thoughts are that although the unit in its entirety will not be completed digitally, the 'games elements' throughout will still serve to engage students and keep them motivated. A template on their google drive will allow them to tick off quests they have completed, and give myself and their peers a place to write a comment and/or score for different tasks completed. These are just my initial thoughts and I imagine the unit will be tweaked and refined as I am teaching it.
This is a good start. You mention some good 'ingredients' such as quests and rewards, however, haven't really described the game elements you might use in as much detail as you might need to give the students a really good first experience with your new found knowledge. You might be interested in the part 2 of this course Next steps in games for learning: Design, Protoype, Play where there is a great example of a GBL experience for secondary English using the Hunger Games as theme for writing.